The next-best thing to being on Mars
Last week, two MIT students began living, working and communicating with the outside world as if they were on a mission to Mars. Whenever they go outside their small, round habitat where eight people...
View ArticleSolar system's biggest impact scar discovered
A new analysis of the topography and gravity of Mars by researchers at MIT and NASA has solved one of the biggest remaining mysteries in the solar system -- why the planet Mars has two completely...
View ArticleProfessor Young gives Portuguese students a glimpse into future Mars missions
Hundreds of Portuguese high school students were recently given a distinct privilege: a look at what future Mars missions could look like, as described by former NASA astronaut Laurence R. Young.Young,...
View Article3Q: The next Mars rover’s destination
When the next-generation Mars rover, dubbed Curiosity, touches down on martian soil next summer, its cameras will likely capture a scene similar to what the first explorers of the Grand Canyon...
View ArticleResearchers calculate size of particles in Martian clouds of CO2 snow
In the dead of a Martian winter, clouds of snow blanket the Red Planet’s poles — but unlike our water-based snow, the particles on Mars are frozen crystals of carbon dioxide. Most of the Martian...
View ArticleSarah Stewart Johnson, EAPS PhD, gives rein to curiosity
A fling with politics turned into a life-changing career path for Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist and 2008 MIT PhD recipient. A former White House fellow working for the President’s...
View ArticleNASA-JPL director Charles Elachi talks about latest Mars mission
The car-sized Mars rover Curiosity, which landed on the Red Planet last month, is the biggest, most expensive and most ambitious planetary mission in many years. But it is just one of a sweeping...
View ArticleMIT alums recount their Martian experiences
Since NASA’s Curiosity rover made its extraordinary Aug. 6 touchdown on Mars, it has been roving the Martian landscape, returning startling images. So far, the rover has revealed rust-colored canyons...
View ArticleDetecting DNA in space
If there is life on Mars, it’s not too farfetched to believe that such Martian species may share genetic roots with life on Earth. More than 3.5 billion years ago, a blitz of meteors ricocheted around...
View ArticleTerramechanics research aims to keep Mars rovers rolling
In May 2009, the Mars rover Spirit cracked through a crusty layer of Martian topsoil, sinking into softer underlying sand. The unexpected sand trap permanently mired the vehicle, despite months of...
View ArticleMaking Martian clouds on Earth
At first glance, Mars’ clouds might easily be mistaken for those on Earth: Images of the Martian sky, taken by NASA’s Opportunity rover, depict gauzy, high-altitude wisps, similar to our cirrus clouds....
View ArticleAsteroids' close encounters with Mars
For nearly as long as astronomers have been able to observe asteroids, a question has gone unanswered: Why do the surfaces of most asteroids appear redder than meteorites — the remnants of asteroids...
View ArticleExploring Mars with the Curiosity rover: The search for ancient habitable...
NASA Curiosity rover chief scientist John Grotzinger will present a public lecture at MIT on Friday, May 9, centered on NASA’s $2.5 billion Curiosity rover mission to Mars.The Curiosity rover mission,...
View ArticleGoing to the Red Planet
Whenever the first NASA astronauts arrive on Mars, they will likely have MIT to thank for the oxygen they breathe — and for the oxygen needed to burn rocket fuel that will launch them back home to...
View ArticleMars One (and done?)
In 2012, the “Mars One” project, led by a Dutch nonprofit, announced plans to establish the first human colony on the Red Planet by 2025. The mission would initially send four astronauts on a one-way...
View ArticleAlumna takes up space on Saturday mornings
Move over Saturday morning cartoons, there’s a new space show in town. Emily Calandrelli SM ’13 is the host and co-producer of Xploration Outer Space, a new FOX series that explores space and big...
View ArticleMichael Collins: “I could have been the last person to walk on the moon”
Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins was part of the three-person crew that flew on mankind’s first mission to land on the moon, but he was the one who remained in orbit and never got to the lunar...
View ArticleTo save on weight, a detour to the moon is the best route to Mars
Launching humans to Mars may not require a full tank of gas: A new MIT study suggests that a Martian mission may lighten its launch load considerably by refueling on the moon.Previous studies have...
View ArticleInterplanetary architecture
We are in the midst of a “Mars moment.” This fall, the Matt Damon film, "The Martian," a story about a stranded astronaut who must learn to survive on Mars, grossed a whopping $55 million at the box...
View ArticleGetting real — on Mars
NASA wants you to know that it’s only a matter of months before you can wake up in a Martian habitat, grab some breakfast, jump into your spacesuit, and head out for a stroll across the Red Planet’s...
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